Live Review: Sunday @ Lollapalooza 2010

Sunday morning rain-showers have been a reoccurring event at the festivals I've gone to this summer, so it was appropriate that Lollapalooza followed suit. Sure, things were a bit muddy for the remainder of the day, but there was a paved surface on which to traverse the grounds this year, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I only heard a few complaints from people who had managed to ruin their brand new white shoes.

I made it over to the festival a little late, but I did manage to arrive in just enough time to see the Dodos over on the north side of the festival. Even though the sky was still pretty gray, they drew a respectable-sized crowd. I actually wasn't aware that they were a trio, their albums have always sounded much fuller to me, but I suppose that's just the studio magic at work. One of the guys in the band only played vibes, which is an instrument I love seeing and hearing on stage. A few songs in, the band brought out Neko Case to do guest vocals on a few tracks. As usual, she sounded really, really great. I had to run away to take care of some intern business, but I was glad I got to partake in a few songs.

Blitzen Trapper are a band I saw for my first time last summer in Chicago, and were a total delight to see again. They're latest record, Destroyer of the Void, has really grown on me over the past few weeks, so it was a treat to see them play some of those songs, especially the sprawling title track as well as "Love and Hate". I think I might try to catch them again when they come through Columbus this fall for a show at the Wex, I feel like they're probably even better when removed from the festival setting.

For a good part of the afternoon, I caught bits and pieces of bands all around the festival. I saw a few songs from Mumford & Sons, who have this army of super-fans that I still don't quite understand. I also listened to a good majority of the X Japan set on the south side's main stage—their first American performance. It was as over the top and bombastic as one would expect, with a choral introduction leading into a set of throw-back glam rock delivered by a group of Japanese guys that looked like they'd stepped straight out of the 80s. Oh, and they also had cannons onstage. Additionally, I saw a bit of Frightened Rabbit delivering an epic set of their own over on a side-stage. The only tracks I recognized were "Swim Until You Can't See Land" and "Living in Colour," but the sizable crowd ate up the rest of their stadium-ready anthems. I'd be just fine with these guys stepping in to replace U2 in a couple of years.

There were many things I loved about the National's show at Lolla. They opened with the subdued "Runaway" after the high-energy romp of MGMT's preceding set. They dedicated "Bloodbuzz Ohio" to all in attendance from the titular state. They generally proved—once again—that they're capable of commanding the attention of a festival crowd, even if they are a bit understated and moody much of the time. Like I said, they were great. But I was a little dissapointed with how predictable their festival set was. The National's headlining set at Pitchfork last year was without a doubt one of my favorite moments of that festival. For much of their Lolla set, I kept being reminded of that night, especially when Berninger jumped out into the crowd during "Mr. November." I guess he does that frequently, so maybe it's not that big a of a deal. I also realize it behooves them to play their 'hits' to a festival crowd. Maybe it's the fact that I've really gotten into their back catalog as of late, but I really missed some of those older songs. I'm probably contradicting myself by now—I think anyone who was there who hadn't seen them before got an extremely great show, and curmudgeons like myself at least got to hear some of the High Violet stuff for the first time.

As for Arcade Fire? Well, they put on an Arcade Fire show in Grant Park. I don't mean to sound totally indifferent, but I guess I kind of was. I've seen Arcade Fire in one of the most epic settings as well as on tour, and while I dig their new record, it's pretty standard stuff for this group, and the live renditions of the newer material weren't exactly anything to write home about (although they make perfect blog fodder). Was it cool to see the assembled crowd yell the melody line to "Wake Up?" Sure it was. Was it the highlight of the weekend for me? Not in the least. But if David Bowie had showed up, maybe I'd be singing a different tune (curse you Bowie!)

Live Review: Saturday @ Lollapalooza 2010

I've decided to split my review of Lollapalooza into parts, mainly because of the epic post-length that would have resulted had I not (and no one wants to read something that daunting). I think you'll enjoy my ramblings and recollections much more thoroughly in smaller, more succinct doses. If not, feel free to start from Friday's review and work your way through all three in one marathon sitting (or choose your own adventure and mix and match—there are no rules!)

Saturday morning started off with a set from Mimicking Birds, who got the dreaded inaugural slot of the day and the small crowd of groggy attendees that comes with it. I was reminded of last year's performance by Low Anthem, who played the exact same stage at the exact same time. Thankfully, the band's spirits didn't seem to be dampened and they profoundly thanked all in attendance before launching into a set culled predominantly from their debut self-titled release. I still can't get over how much lead singer Nate Lacy sounds like Issac Brock—who produced and released Mimicking Birds first record on his Glacial Pace imprint. Even the band's songs sound a bit like old Modest Mouse tracks, which is nice seeing as Brock's current output shies away from his former sound. "Burning Stars" and an encore performance of "Pixels" were the sets shining moments, providing a subdued start to another full day of music.

Next I caught the majority of Rogue Wave's set, a band that—to be honest—I've never really gotten into. Even so, I definitely prefer their older records to their latest, Permalight, which tries really hard to change up the group's formula with the addition of some electronic flourishes, but ends up failing miserably. Unfortunately for me, much of the set was drawn from that album. We did get the obligatory rendition of "Lake Michigan," a song which must have been in a car commercial at some point, because whenever I hear it I picture a minivan driving down a winding road. Then again, maybe I'm just crazy.

While I was in the press area later that afternoon I was subjected to a good part of Blues Traveler's set. They opened with "Runaround." I don't even know why they were invited to play Lollapalooza—I'm pretty sure they lost all cultural relevance many, many years ago. And there's really only so much you can take of those constant harmonica solos. Oh, and to cap it all off, they did a god-awful cover of Radiohead's "Creep." On the plus side, Ice Cream Man was backstage handing out his usual selection of free, frozen treats.

When I descended back into the festival, I made my way over to Gogol Bordello's set for a little taste of his high energy gypsy punk. I can't say I'm a big listener of his records, but his live shows are in a category all of their own. People get really into the whole vibe of it, meaning plenty of crowd surfing and moshing. And where else do you get to see a guy seriously rock out on an accordion?

I made my way across the fest (next year I suggest installing moving walkways) to catch the last half of Grizzly Bear's set. They sounded alright, but I really think they're a far better band to see indoors. Their music really needs a space to reverberate in and bounce off of for the full effect. That being said, I did really enjoy the version of "While You Wait For the Others" that they played. After they were finished, I turned around 180 degrees to see a little bit of Metric's performance. They opened with their Scott Pilgrim vs. The World track "Black Sheep," so for a couple of minutes I got to pretended I was at a Clash at Demonhead show—it was awesome.

I actually had quite a bit of work to do the rest of the day, although I did step out into the crowd for about 20 minutes of Green Day's set. Those 20 minutes were pretty enjoyable, but then reality set in and I realized I was at a modern Green Day show. To their credit, I think they played every song worth hearing, although they did have a two hour and 15 minute set to fill. They had a little kid do a stage dive over a 15 foot photographer's pit—that was pretty great. I'm sure my middle-school self would have loved to have stayed for the entire show, but the Zach of the Present was more interested in getting over to Phoenix.

How did the Frenchmen fare? Pretty damn well, judging by both the audience's reaction and the grin on my face. Most people (myself included) only got into Phoenix thanks to their breakout record Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, so it stood to reason that their set was mainly derived from that album. I particularly enjoyed the combo of "Countdown" and "Rome" towards the end of their main set. When the band came back out on-stage, they launched into a short cover of Air's "Playground Love," before delivering the night's final blow. When the opening strains of "1901" started playing, the crowd erupted. I witness two people climbing the scaffolding on the sound booth in front of me, one of them waving a French flag. The lighting for the song replicated some of that weird interlaced scanning-lines stuff from their cool music video. I know for sure that this song was in a car commercial. I don't even care if that's why everyone recognized it, it was still a damn good way for these guys to end the night.

Live Review: Friday @ Lollapalooza 2010

So, I survived the three-day ordeal that is Lollapalooza, managing to see a whole bunch of music, meet up with folks and fulfill my intern duties. I had a way better time than I expected to have, partially because the organizers at this festival make things pretty cushy for members of the press. We got put in a shady, fenced-off area that overlooked the main stage on the south side of the grounds, complete with plenty of gratis food and drink. Compared to the stuffy little tent crammed into a corner that Pitchfork supplied, this place was heavenly.

My Friday started out with a brush with Ohio rock-royalty: our first interview of the day was with the legendary Devo. Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Mothersbaugh (Bob 1) and Bob Casale (Bob 2) sat down with my fearless leader John Dugan for a really insightful conversation on the origins of the group and their continued relevance almost 40 years later. As you can see, Mark did more of the talking for the group, proving himself to be both eloquent and brutally self-aware. I don't count myself as a huge Devo fan, but as a fellow Ohio-native with musical aspirations and someone who is at the very least familiar with their catalog, it was a humbling experience.

The rest of my day went a little like this: I caught a set from garage-rock quartet the Ettes, who did a fine job of translating their crunchy, bluesy tunes into a gripping live show, complete with some great vocal work from front-woman Lindsay “Coco” Hames. On my way back through the grounds, I managed to see about half of the Walkmen's set, which was extremely impressive. They debuted a good amount of material from their upcoming record Libson, which I've heard and can vouch for as being my favorite thing they've done to date. We did an interview with them a little later in the day and it was really interesting to hear how much material they recorded before culling it down to the tracks that ultimately made the record. I also caught up with Pat Carney backstage who assured me that his Audio Eagle Records imprint wasn't dead, but merely on hiatus. Royal Bangs, the label's most successful group, is on the verge of signing a deal with a bigger indie label, so Carney made it sound like his next step will to be bring some new talent to Audio Eagle (I'm still pulling for the next Brainbow record to come out via the label).

On my next run through the park, I caught a little bit of Peanut Butter Wolf's DJ set as I walked by the all-day rave that is Perry's stage. Appropriately enough, he was spinning Madvillians's "All Caps" before quickly segueing into some J Dilla. Unfortunately, I had to hurry off to cover Cymbals Eat Guitars for TOC, a set in which the group debuted a fair amount of newer material while still hitting all the highlights from their debut LP Why There Are Mountains. As much fun as the morning was, the day really got started as I got into position for The New Pornographers—a band I've seen before, but not with Dan Bejar in tow, as was the case on this particular occasion. I couldn't have asked for a better set, just two songs in they played "Myriad Harbor," one of my favorite Bejar-voiced tunes. Neko Case, decked out in a sun-hat, was an imposing vocal presence as usual, turning in a pitch-perfect version of "Challengers" that sent shivers down my spine (she was the one person I was extremely disappointed I didn't get the chance to meet). The handful of songs that they played from their latest record—"Moves," "Crash Years," "Your Hands (Together)"—also sounded great, but honestly, it was nice to hear such a varied set.

The Black Keys erected a gigantic banner for their set on the north side's main stage, depicting two clasped hands framed by a tire—reminiscent of the gigantic inflatable tire I saw them employ at a festival a couple of years back. The duo started out with some back catalog tracks—"Thickfreakness," "Girl is on My Mind," "Stack Shot Billy"—before bringing a bassist and keyboardist on-stage to delve into some track of their latest LP Brothers. Black Keys purists, say what you will, the expanded line-up lets these guys do so much more and really helps drive home tunes like "Everlasting Light" and "Next Girl." I didn't get to catch their entire set, but I left thoroughly impressed.

Over on the other side of the festival—recall that the press area over-looks the south side's main stage—everyone was getting into a tizzy about Lady Gaga's headlining set. The stage was covered in a gigantic black curtain, which eventually dropped away to reveal a translucent screen, on which—surprise, surprise—Lady Gaga's silhouette was projected on. The screams that went through the crowd were piercing... people were really eating this stuff up. I have no idea what songs were played, but the first 15 minutes or so of the set seemed like pretty standard pop-fare, with intermittent, extremely cheesy attempts at adding a 'narrative' to the proceedings. As the set wore on, Gaga kept stopping between songs to complain about how the kids made fun of her at school, and how no one ever thought she would be headlining Lollapalooza. I'm sure she could afford a great therapist—the ego-trip was just far to much to handle, so I made my way north for the Strokes. (If you would have told me six months ago that I'd halfheartedly write a Lady Gaga review this summer, I would have told you to get out of town)

What can I say about the Strokes? It was pretty cool to see them live, but they were exactly what I expected they'd be—which isn't a bad thing. They sounded great, and they played the songs that everyone came to hear, it was a crowd-pleasing set. Casablancas is still enthralling to listen to as he casually snarls his way through songs like "Reptillia" and "Last Nite." The group wasn't particularly animated, but they had some excellent visuals in back of them, including a really awesome videogame montage (Pong, Tetris, Pac-Man, Space Invaders) during "Juicebox." My favorite track of the evening was the set-closer "Take It or Leave It," which was a not-so-subtle retort to whatever criticism they may get for reuniting to play a few festivals. They're still the Strokes, so I'll take it.

Live Review: Saturday @ Lollapalooza

Talk about a summer of firsts! I couldn't quite bring myself to spring for the full three day Lollapalooza experience, so I decided to attend the second day of the annual fest. Marilu (my wonderful photographer) and I lucked out and missed the downpour on Friday, and were instead scorched by a day of sun and heat. This was my first time at a BIG music festival, so I was a little taken aback by the sheer number of people crammed into Grant Park. However, braving the crowds was a small price to pay for some of the great performances we got to witness.

The day started out with a set from The Low Anthem, a group that I've really been getting into as of late. Unfortunately, one of the nearby stages did its best to drown out the band's comparatively subdued songs, but by a few songs in the mix was perfectly enjoyable. I wasn't familiar with alot of the songs that were played, but what really struck was the beauty of the sparse but effective instrumentation. The members of the group are all multi-instrumentalists, incorporating instruments such as clarinets, horns, and pump organs into their arrangement. The highlight of the set for me was the Oh My God, Charlie Darwin track "Home I'll Never Be" which was every bit as raw and raucous as its studio counterpart. These guys may have gotten stuck with a pretty crappy spot on the schedule, but they delivered a set worthy of bigger stage and a larger crowd.

No Age's set was an entirely different animal than the one I experienced just a few days earlier at their show at the Memorial Union Terrace. The biggest difference was that No Age's guitarist had dislocated his shoulder the night prior, but managed to power through a nearly hour long set despite the fact that he has in a brace and hopped up on Vicodin. As a result, the most action the stage saw was a when a speedy fan hopped the barrier and jumped up on stage to deliver a note to No Age's drummer before quickly evading security and jumping back into the crowd. While I'm not really that familiar with No Age's recorded works, they sounded good and the oddly small crowd seemed to eat it up.

For me, the whole day kind of led up to TV on the Radio taking the stage. I was anxious to see how tracks from their superb Dear Science would hold up in a live setting. Turns out, they could have sounded better, if not for an extremely sub-par sound mix. I tolerated the muddy mix of opener "Love Dog", but by the time the band started "Golden Age" and things still didn't sound quite right, it didn't bode well for the rest of the performance. It's a shame too, because TVotR brought a killer horn section that really filled out their songs. It was just a little irritating when you couldn't hear Kyp Malone belting out the lyrics on "Crying" or that cool keyboard riff on "Red Dress". Not the band's fault, they looked as if they were giving it their all, and the set closer of "Staring at the Sun" sounded great. I just wish it hadn't taken the whole set to troubleshoot the mix...The Yeah Yeah Yeahs aren't the kind of band I would peg to headline a night of a festival, but after seeing the show they put on Saturday night, I can totally understand why they got the spot. The group proved themselves a totally competent replacement for the currently incapacitated Beastie Boys, thanks in no small part to the amazing vocal prowess and awesome stage presence of one Karen O. The band transitioned seamlessly between newer dance-tinged tunes such as "Heads Will Roll" and "Zero" and the older more rock-infused numbers such as "Pin" and "Date with the Night". Did I mention how good they sounded? I wouldn't be surprised if frequent producer David Sitek was behind the boards, making sure that the same fate that befell his band just an hour earlier didn't also affect the YYY's. An acoustic version of "Maps", during which Karen temporarily forgot the words, and a rousing rendition of "Y Control" made the night complete for me. The Yeah Yeah Yeah's encore-less set was a worthy end to a special day at a festival I'll certainly return to someday soon.